Up in arms over toilets
2007-08-23
THE residents of Swartberg Street in the Carterville area of Wellington, are up in arms over toilets erected on their doorstep, for use by shack dwellers of the neighbouring OR informal section of Mbekweni.
It is causing hygiene problems for the neighbourhood, they say.
“Why should the toilets be on our side? We don’t even use them, because we have our own toilets,” one resident of Carterville said.
“It is not fair that other people come and mess here. Look at all that dirt. The smell here is disgusting.
“The Municipality pays people a lot of money to clean here. And the very next day that place will be a mess again.
“People urinate and do everything next to the toilets, instead of in them. They don’t keep the toilets clean,” another resident said.
“Why are there toilets if some people do their thing next to the toilets,” another resident wanted to know.
On the other side of the street are the residents of the OR informal settlement for whom the toilets were erected.
“There is no space on our side to erect the toilets. We are not the only people using these facilities. People passing here also use them,” one of the informal settlement residents said.
According to the municipal spokesperson the toilets were erected where there was sufficient space and access to sewage and water pipes.
A tender for the regular cleaning and maintenance of the toilets will be awarded as soon as possible (before 21 September).
The councillor for this ward, Mpelese Tshaya, said that the only solution would be to move the people staying in the informal settlements to a new site with formal homes.
Meanwhile residents of the shack area of OR Tambo are concerned that they have received toilets, but still have no indication when they will have houses.
“We have received toilets. Does that mean that we will never get houses?” is the concern of despairing residents in OR Thambo in Mbekweni.
According to a municipal spokesman, the first concern is to provide sewage for squatters on the short term.
“In the long term, the residents of OR who are on the waiting list, will receive houses in the Drommedaris development near the traffic centre.
“Servicing of the area is scheduled to start soon."
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